When last we checked in with the Gamebone, it looked, well, like a bone. Thankfully the latest version actually looks good, even if it does turn your iPhone into a PSP lookalike, giving it four buttons and a d-pad. The accessory features a 2000mAh battery for extra power, an LED to display charging and capacity, start/select buttons, built-in stereo speakers, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and an omni-directional microphone.

We don’t have a release date yet, but you can expect it by the end of the year. 22moo has released developer tools to make games compatible with the accessory.

Microsoft has shown off some screenshots of 3D games on the new Windows Phone 7 platform, and from the looks of them, the games look pretty awesome. The new Windows Phone 7 handsets feature NVIDIA’s Tegra 2 chipset, which can produce good quality 3D graphics.

With games looking this good, the iPhone may have some serious competition. Game developers are sure paying attention to the Windows Phone 7 platform now if they weren’t before.

Sure, you and I are busy playing our Xbox 360s , Wii and PS3s, but there’s another option. The Swinxs gaming console, which is now available in the States, even if it was announced two years ago. It launched in Europe last year. Just look at those kids. They seem to love it, all sugared up and jumping around.

The Swinxs offers hours of fun, using lights and a built-in voice which explains the game, recognizes players and acts as a referee. The whole thing is screen-free, so no TV needed. It can handle up to 10 players and offers 26 games.

In case you didn’t know, retail copies of SOCOM US Navy SEALs: Fireteam Bravo 3 come with a code that’s needed to unlock online play for the game. If you buy it used, a new code will be $20. Say what? You bought it used so you could save $20. That isn’t cool.

Well publishers don’t think the used games market is cool. Used games cost them money when you buy it at a discount rather then from them retail. But what can they do? It’s legal to buy and sell used games. They play games with these one-time-use codes in retail packaging that leaves used game buyers without the full experience. That’s what they do. Well, one of the things.

If you’re looking for a puzzle game that makes Rubik’s cube seem easy, this is for you brainiac. The Superplexus is a 36 inch diameter sphere that holds a 300 foot long maze track around which you have to guide a wooden marble.

Sure that sounds like fun, but you can imagine the frustration. The first frustration will be the price. $30,000. The true puzzle here is how you will come up with the money and why you would want to spend thirty grand on this thing.

Hot on the heels of the Rubik’s Cube 30th birthday box set, comes this new puzzler from the company. The Rubik’s Slide will likely frustrate you in all sorts of ways. The makers claim that there are more than 10,000 puzzles on this.

It’s your job to slide and twist to move a series of squares (up to nine) to match a pre-determined pattern that is displayed at the start. The further you go, the more tiles will be introduced. That sounds simple, but it never is with these puzzles. I would need to save my progress like in a video game, but somehow I doubt that’s possible.

If you were old enough to remember the 80’s you certainly recall the Rubik’s Cube. The cube has all those squares and stickers and I turned one until it fell apart once and never was able to finish it. I always changed the stickers around.

The Rubik’s Cube has now turned 30 and to celebrate the maker of the game cube is offering a box set of the things for the classroom. The kit includes 12 Rubik’s cubes, 12 solution guides, a DVD, cube sign-out sheets, posters, stickers, and award certificates for the classroom or educational programs.

The iPhone has some decent games, but there are some classics that it is lacking, like Final Fantasy for instance. Not anymore. According to Square Enix, Final Fantasy will be headed to the App Store soon, though we don’t have an official release date or price yet.

Judging by the screenshots, you shouldn’t expect a modern version of course, but it should be fun for those gaming on their iPhone while they should be doing something else.

I like Star Trek as much as the next geek and definitely prefer Picard to Kirk. I did enjoy the new Star Trek film and have played a few of the Star Trek video games over the years. The Star Trek online MMORPG game is set to launch next month and pricing has been unveiled.

The MMORPG game will have a standard monthly subscription rate of $14.99 per month. Game cards will be sold at retail outlets and a free 30 day trial will be included with the game.

Wiiwaa is a upcoming Wii game where you jam your Wiimote into the mouth of some alien stuffed animal. The furry beast swallows the wiimote and then the game uses the stuffed animal as the game’s controller. This allows the toy to become motion-sensitive.

So when you shake and move the puppet around, those same movements are replicated in the game. You can also throw the thing. Hopefully not at the TV. Check out the video below.

I am sure there are many people out there who found a new iPhone under the tree this Christmas. Those folks are sure to be downloading tons of apps over the coming week with many people off work and out of school.

PlayHaven, an iPhone game community, and MobClix, a targeted mobile ad exchange, have announced that they expect record game downloads for the next week. The two companies expect game downloads for the week from Christmas Day to New Year’s Day to be 28 times higher than the same period last year.

Looks like Target cashiers now play a “game” when they check you out at the register. The score depends on how fast you’re doing your job. And yes, we realize that this game sucks and looks like no fun at all. But hey, that’s life working at Target right? I’ve played games on a watch that are more interesting than this.

It sounds like a great way to shame employees into working faster. Especially after a few cashiers start acting all snooty because they hold the high score. Then you want to put them in their place and beat them. But only “the man” wins in this scenario.

It’s always nice when our old gadgets and toys get some modern upgrades, but some things just should not be changed. The Etch-A-Sketch Freestyle gets rid of the traditional 2 controller knob design in favor of a single knob that can swivel 360 degrees.

I don’t know about you, but somehow this design feels like cheating. Half the fun of the classic version is that it requires some skill to use it. This is no Etch A Sketch.

Put the video games down and play some Portable Air Hockey instead. This is a portable version that comes with an integrated fan within the puck, allowing it to float across a table or flat surface easily. All you need to figure out is how wall off the sides of your table so you aren’t breaking things.

Portable Air Hockey will cost you $14.99. For that price you get a puck, paddles and a set of nets. Sounds like a lot of fun.

[red ferret]

If you are a big fan of Star Trek and have been counting the days until the new flick hit DVD, you will like the news of the new MMORPG as well. The new game is called Star Trek Online and it has been given an official launch date.

The game will debut on February 2, 2010 for Trekkies the world over to play. The game promises space and ground-based play and lets users fully customize not only their characters and uniforms, but starships as well.